The concept of motorizing the movement of aircraft on the ground means motorizing the aircraft so that they can move around autonomously but at low speeds, like an aeroplane does before it takes off or after it has landed at airports; this is what is commonly known as “taxiing”. It does not therefore here mean motorizing the wheel in order to bring it up to a speed consistent with the landing speed as has already been proposed in the prior art.
A known motorizing system for powering a wheel associated with a suspension, is of the type comprising a motor unit and a drive member secured to the wheel.
However, such a system has a certain sensitivity to shocks, this being especially great and damaging when the speed of travel along the ground of the vehicle carrying the motorizing system is high and this ground is uneven.
Another system for motorizing a wheel associated with a suspension is known and this is of the type comprising a motor unit carried by the sprung part of the suspension strut and a drive member secured to the wheel.
Such a system often has the disadvantage that the motor unit remains lodged in the part covered by the belly of the aeroplane without the possibility of being cooled by the ambient air. In addition, the mechanical transmission to the wheel is often achieved in the form of gearings which go through various changes of angle of the associated shafts, something which is detrimental to the efficiency of the transmission and requires increased accuracy of the attachment points in order to ensure that the gearings mesh correctly.